Wild In The Streets (1968)

When a rock star (Christopher Jones) is approached by an opportunistic Kennedy-esque candidate (Hal Holbrook) running for the senate to headline a fund raising concert, he turns the tables on him by demanding the voting age be reduced to 14 years. Thus begins an unsettling look at a youth obsessed utopia where people over 35 are put into concentration camps and force fed LSD. American International had its pulse on the youth of America and exploited it in the late 1950s with cheapies like ROCK ALL NIGHT, DRAGSTRIP GIRL, MOTORCYCLE GANG and HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS. They really hit the jackpot in the early 60s with their BEACH PARTY movies but when there was a shift in the youth culture in mid 60s, AI was the first to jump on the band wagon with movies like THE TRIP, PSYCH OUT and this, WILD IN THE STREETS which may be their masterpiece. Like their other exploitation films, it was a toss off (shot in 15 days) but it benefits from a witty script that taps into the paranoia of the older generation's view of the youth culture: the pot smoking, LSD taking flower children. The dialog is clever: during a protest on the Sunset Strip a journalist reports that "many surfboards were sacrificed for the occasion" and when Shelley Winters as Jones' mother is asked about her son's activities, she says "I'm sure my son has a very good reason for paralyzing the country!". Jones (whose death this Friday gave me a reason to rewatch the film) has a languid arrogance perfect for the part but the film's best performances come from Winters and Diane Varsi, hilarious as a spaced out LSD addled tambourine shaking California congresswoman. The pop/rock songs by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil are catchy. Directed by Barry Shear. With Richard Pryor, Millie Perkins, Ed Begley, Bert Freed, Dick Clark and Pamela Mason.